We had dinner at a neighbor’s house last weekend and they sent us home with a dozen eggs from their very own chickens. Now this is living. We’ve gone through them pretty quickly:
These folks did something smart: They enlisted a small army of neighbors to help them care for their flock. Everybody takes a day and visits the farm once in the morning to let the chickens out, then once at nightfall to put them back in. For their trouble, they get a dozen eggs a week. And, says the man of the house, they get to test out chicken-keeping without committing to a flock of their own.
It’s the season when hope is stirring in the hearts of would-be chicken-keepers everywhere, including yours truly. We’ve started to build a coop of our own; more about that later. We plan to get four hens (if you ask me) and six (if you ask my husband) in about six weeks. Along with a lot of other novices, we’ll be doing our best to figure out how to feed, shelter and protect these girls from hawks and roaming dogs.
CLUCK, the local band of poultry enthusiasts, has a listserv I’m on, and there’s been talk of a local coop tour where the curious can get a look at various ways of housing the birds. I’ll jump on that for sure. Meanwhile, it’s great to have egg-producing neighbors.
